TransForce sales soar on the back of acquisitions
Canadian transport and logistics company TransForce, Inc., has seen its revenues growing by more than a third over the past year, mostly because of the year’s major acquisitions. The Montreal-based company issued its results for the full 2011 year today, showing a turnover up from $2bn in 2010 to $2.7bn in its latest 12 months.
But excluding the acquisitions of companies including IE Miller, Dynamex and Loomis Express, TransForce said its revenues grew at a more moderate pace of 4% during the year.
The company’s fourth quarter revenue increased 36% compared to the same period in 2010, to $735.5m.
Alain Bédard, the chairman, president and CEO at TransForce, said that along with the acquisitions, which had helped achieve record revenues, his company had also improved its operating efficiencies.
However, a “hesistant” economy had seen volumes declining slightly, with margins lower in its Dynamex and Loomis Express operations.
With much of the acquisitions affecting TransForce’s Package and Courier operations, that segment saw revenue for the full year more than doubling from $396m in 2010 to $971m in 2011.
Earnings before tax in the Package and Courier segment increased nearly 50% to $60.6m for the year.
Volumes in the Package and Courier segment had been steady through the first nine months of the year, but then dropped in the last three months of the year compared to the same period in 2010, as rivals dropped their prices.
Bédard said further work was needed to improve the profitability of newly-acquired Loomis International, what was formerly the domestic operations of DHL Express in Canada.
He said: “In Package and Courier, advances were made in the performance of Loomis Express, which reduced its loss, and we continue to proactively implement cost reduction measures to further enhance profitability.”
Its recent acquisitions have seen TransForce’s workforce swelling from 11,600 employees and 1,800 independent contractors at the end of 2010 to 14,680 employees and 6,650 independent contractors at the close of 2011.
The company’s trucking fleed grew from 6,200 power units and 11,600 trailers at the end of 2010 to 11,390 power units and 11,340 trailers at the end of 2011, including independent contractors.
